Things Blowing Up and Other Minor Problems
by KHLostEmpress
Summary: In a case of mistaken identity, Japan and England are kidnapped. Capitalizing on the error, they call for ransom. Canada is visiting when America gets called and decided this is a perfect excuse for a road trip, which leads to the utter destruction of a Super Wal-Mart among other things. Meanwhile, the kidnappers might have bitten off more than they can chew when England wakes up.


Author's Notes: Not really sure exactly where I'm going with this, but it's a version of writing I've always wanted to try. So, here's to my experiment. We'll start with Canada's Story, run that through almost to the end, and then go back to the beginning with a new character. So, lots of crap is going to be going on in the background that you won't understand until I reveal the whole story! Get it? At least sort of, right? Well, just roll with it.

This is just the beginning. Sort of the end. You may have noticed In Medias Res is something I'm very fond of. Whatever. Read and ignore me, please.

* * *

It had become one of those times when one might be tempted to ask 'what else could go wrong now?' for the simple reason that one day, which had started as any other day, had simply—just three days later—spiraled down to total and utter chaos. But one would only be _tempted_ to say those words because only a complete moron would actually say them out loud and risk the possibility of the universe taking a crack at them and showing them _exactly_ how much worse it could be. Not even his brother would be so stupid, though judging from his expression the last time he saw him, his brother did not actually seem all that ill at ease with the situation they currently found themselves in at the moment.

So it was with a sigh and not any words at all, that Canada slid to the ground (because there was nothing else to sit on just then) and leaned against the wall with his head hanging slightly down and his knees pulled up.

Though his official name was Canada, out in the public he was called Matthew Williams, for the simple fact that people tended to look at you oddly when you introduced yourself as a country name. Sometimes they could get away with it (a lot of the time in America where his people seemed to be making it a hobby to name their children oddly—especially with the celebrities in his Hollywood). In fact, people sometimes gave him and his brother stranger looks when they introduced themselves as Matthew Williams and Alfred F. Jones rather than Canada and America due to the fact that they were about as close to twins as countries got. Most of the time people just thought it was amusing or ironic (despite the fact that it wasn't even what irony _meant_) if they found the brothers calling each other by their real names.

With another sigh, he extended his legs out in front of him. Taking off his glasses, he pinched the bridge of his nose as he leaned his head back against the wall. How he wished he could blame this whole thing on Alfred! It would really just make everything easier (or at the very least, he would feel better). But, truthfully, he really couldn't as his brother's contribution to the situation was just another factor that led to this fiasco (and, admittedly, things might actually have been worse if he _hadn't_ been here).

But, once again just to make himself feel better, Matthew was still going to give him a piece of his mind if they made it out of this…he hesitated to say _alive_ because, as a country, as long as his land existed he couldn't actually _die_ (and sometimes he wondered if even then as, technically, Prussia was still hanging around (_he_ said it was due to his awesome being just too _awesome_ to go while most everyone else figured he probably had just become East Germany and now he and Germany were just Germany together, like Italy and Romano were Italy together) and Canada might have overheard Germany muttering once about whether or not a visit from the Roman Empire was actually a dream—sometimes being practically invisible had its advantages). Still, it wasn't like he _enjoyed_ getting shot; it still _hurt_.

"Mattie? Hey, Mattie?"

Only one person in the world (literally) called him that. Matthew opened his eyes to see Alfred standing over him with Japan and Italy behind him. He blinked in surprise as he placed his glasses back on—what were they doing here and how had Alfred found them? And wasn't Japan one of the reasons they were here in the first place?

"You okay?" Alfred asked, offering his hand out with concern in his voice.

Matthew took his hand and allowed Alfred to pull him up as he said, "I'm fine, Al. Just resting for a moment."

Before he could ask about the other countries, Alfred gave him a slap on the back (a little too hard causing Matthew to stumble forward a step), smiled brightly and said, "Great! You ready?"

"Yes," Matthew said resigned and followed Alfred.


End file.
